Our judge arrived to the table and both players awaited the announcements from the head judge, Julia Hedberg. Matt mentioned that if Austin won, he would be proud to play alongside him at the World Championships in Japan.

Duel 1

The die roll was decided in Matt’s favor, and he chose to go first. He used his first turn to set a single spell or trap card and then ended his turn. Victor noted the action with a “Hmmm,” and began his turn by summoning Reflect Bounder. Matt responded with Torrential Tribute to destroy it. Victor set one spell or trap and ended his turn.

Matt drew and played Graceful Charity, discarding D. D. Assailant and Return from the Different Dimension. He summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked, but Victor’s Sakuretsu Armor took it down. Matt passed the turn to Victor.

Victor set one monster and one spell or trap and then ended his turn. Matt then used his turn to Normal Summon Exiled Force. Its effect was used to destroy Victor’s face-down Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. Victor used his next turn to set one monster and then ended his turn.

Matt began his next turn with Premature Burial, targeting Exiled Force and reducing his life points to 7200. With Victor having no response, Exiled Force was brought onto the field. Matt then used its effect to destroy another face down Dekoichi on Victor’ side of the field. Matt then set one monster and one spell or trap before concluding his turn.

Victor reached into his graveyard and removed Dekoichi and Reflect Bounder from play to Special Summon Chaos Sorcerer. He attacked Matt’s face down monster, revealing  Magician of Faith Matt used its effect to select Graceful Charity from his graveyard, and then Magician of Faith said her regards on the way to the Graveyard.

Matt used his next turn to play that Graceful Charity, discarding Asura Priest and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch.Victor commented, “All those Gracefuls. That ain’t good.” Matt summoned Mystic Tomato and then followed with Creature Swap from his hand. From Creature Swap, Victor received Mystic Tomato and Matt received Chaos Sorcerer. Matt used Chaos Sorcerer to attack the Mystic Tomato, easily smearing it and reducing Victor’s life points to 7100. then attacked and took out the Tomato. With the Tomato’s effect, Matt chose Spirit Reaper. He then attacked with it and connected, taking Victor down by another 300 points. This caused Victor to discard Heavy Storm. Matt then entered main phase 2 and played Confiscation, taking his life points to 6200. He selected Chaos Sorcerer from Victor’s hand, discarding it. Matt concluded his turn.

Victor began his next turn with Smashing Ground, destroying the Chaos Sorcerer that Matt had obtained from Creature Swap. He then set one monster and ended his turn. Matt Summoned D. D. Warrior Lady and then used it to attack Victor’s face down monster, revealing Tsukuyomi. Victor used its effect to turn Matt’s Spirit Reaper face down and then it was destroyed. Matt set one spell or trap card and then ended his turn.

During his next turn, Victor had no actions to perform. Matt took advantage of this during his next turn to attack with Spirit Reaper and his D. D. Warrior Lady, discarding Chaos Sorcerer from Victor’s hand. Victor’s next turn got him a monster to set on the field, but nothing more.

Matt summoned Sangan and then fought the face down monster with D.D. Warrior Lady. The monster was revealed to be Night Assailant, and before it was lost to the Graveyard Victor used its effect to destroy Spirit Reaper. Sangan then went in for the 1000-point ankle bite.

Victor used his next turn to set one monster and then ended his turn. Matt went after the new face down monster with his D. D. Warrior Lady, taking out Victor’s Skelengel. Victor drew his card, and then received a direct attack from Matt’s Sangan, taking another 1000 points of damage.

Victor’s next turn had a stronger opening. He special summoned Cyber Dragon and then tributed it for Zaborg the Thunder Monarch, targeting Matt’s D. D. Warrior Lady. The lady is destroyed, and then Sangan received the remainder of Zaborg’s wrath, taking Matt to 4800 life points versus Victor’s 3000 life points. Matt searched with Sangan’s effect and chose Mystic Tomato. He then set one spell or trap card and ended his turn, with no cards left in his hand.

Matt checked his graveyard and then normal summoned Mystic Tomato. He then played Snatch Steal, laying claim to Victor’s Zaborg. He took it and then progressed to the battle phase where he declared an attack with it. Took it. Victor responded to this by flipping his face-down Return from the Different Dimension. Victor was now at 1500 life points, while Matt held strong at 4800. With Return, Victor chose to special summon Dekoichi into defense position, but had to take some time to contemplate what he would do with Reflect Bounder. Ultimately, he decided to place it into defense position. Matt then used Mystic Tomato and Zaborg the Thunder Monarch to take out both of Victor’s monsters.

Victor began his next turn and gained 1000 life points, going to 2500. He then played Premature Burial from his hand, returning his Chaos Sorcerer to play at the cost of 800 life points. He used its effect to remove Matt’s Zaborg from play, and then ended his turn.

Matt removed the D. D. Warrior Lady and Spirit Reaper in his graveyard from play for Chaos Sorcerer and then used Smashing Ground to take out Victor’s Chaos Sorcerer. With the path clear, he attacked directly for the win.

Matt takes the first Duel.

Duel 2

During the preparation for the second duel we find out that Austin had won his first Duel. Players seemed delighted by the event. Austin had gained quite a following. After Side Decks were completed, Matt said, “Good luck.”

Victor responded by saying, “You too.”

Victor went first. He opened with Graceful Charity, discarding Cyber Dragon and Mystical Space Typhoon. He set one spell or trap and then ended his turn, with no monsters played to the field.

Matt normal summoned Sangan. He declared an attack with it, but in response Victor flipped his face down Call of the Haunted. Call brought back Cyber Dragon from Victor’s graveyard and a replay was issued. Matt decided to call of Sangan’s attack, and then proceeded to his second main phase where he set one spell or trap and then ended his turn.

Victor used his next turn to attack with Cyber Dragon, munching on the tasty Sangan. Matt’s life points went to 6900 and with Sangan’s effect he choose Exiled Force. Victor set a monster and then set one spell or trap, ending his turn.

As Matt began his next turn, Victor asked “How many Sorcerers do you have in your hand?”

Matt responded, “Three . . . sure.” Matt summoned Exiled Force and used its effect to take out Victor’s Cyber Dragon. He then used Nobleman of Crossout to take out Victor’s set monster, Dekoichi. Matt had none to remove, but Victor lost an additional 2 from his deck, leaving none. Matt ended his turn, with both players having only 1 set spell or trap card on their respective sides of the field. Neither player had any monsters in play.

Victor used his next turn to set a monster. Matt responded in his next turn with Graceful Charity from his hand, to which Victor responded with only the statement “Yep.” Matt chose to discard Chaos Sorcerer and D. D. Assailant. He then used Premature Burial to bring back Exiled Force from his graveyard. With its effect he destroyed Victor’s set monster and then ended his turn by setting a monster of his own.

As Victor’s turn opened, he had only a single set spell or trap card. As he set another spell or trap card, Matt asked, “How many Chaos Sorcerers do you have?”

Victor responded by saying, “Four.”

“That’s too many. I guess I won’t attack with Reaper then.”

Victor set one monster and then ended his turn, with Matt at 6100 life points and Victor at 8000.

Matt began his next turn by flip summoning Magician of Faith. With its effect, he chose Graceful Charity. He played it, but while deciding what to discard we heard a great roar of applause. We find out that Austin had won his match. Everyone began to talk about the event and Matt said jokingly “no more distractions!”  Matt continued his discard decision, choosing Mystic Tomato and Creature Swap. He then played Confiscation from his hand, reducing his life points to 5100. He selected Chaos Sorcerer from Victor’s hand, passing over Heavy Storm and Mirror Force. He then set one monster and one spell or trap, ending his turn.

Victor began his next turn with his own Confiscation, taking his life points to 7000. He also selected a Chaos Sorcerer from Matt’s hand, leaving behind Snatch Steal in Matt’s hand. He ended his turn with two set spells or traps and one set monster on his side of the field.

Matt flip summoned Mystic Tomato and then put Magician of Faith into Defense Position. Mystic Tomato attacked into Victor’s face down, Tsukuyomi, who turned the Tomato face-down. He ended his turn and Tsukuyomi returned to Victor’s hand.

Victor set one spell or trap and ended his turn. Matt flip summoned his Tomato and then attacked with it again, this time running into Sakuretsu Armor. The Tomato was pasted and Matt’s turn came to an end.

Victor set another spell or trap card and ended his turn. Matt summoned Spirit Reaper and attacked with it, but Victor stopped the attack by flipping one of his face-down spells or traps, Book of Moon. Victor used his next turn to examine the Graveyard and then set one spell or trap.

Matt began his next turn by flip summoning Spirit Reaper. He then Tributed his defense position Magician of Faith for Mobius the Frost Monarch. He chose to target Victor’s outermost spell or trap cards. Victor flipped one of them in response, revealing Ceasefire. Ceasefire inflicted 1000 points of damage to Matt’s life points and then Mobius’ effect destroyed it and Victor’s set Mirror Force. Matt attacked directly with Mobius, reducing Victor’s life points to 4600. He then attacked with his Spirit Reaper, further reducing Victor’s life points to 4300. Reaper discarded Premature Burial from Victor’s hand, and with that, Matt’s turn came to an end.

Victor used his next turn to set two more spells or traps and one monster, clearing his hand of all cards. Matt checked the graveyard and then summoned Asura Priest. He set one spell or trap and then declare an attack with the Asura Priest against Matt’s face down monster. Victor took some time to contemplate his response, ultimately deciding to allow it. The face down monster was Tsukuyomi. It was destroyed, but its effect put Matt’s Mobius face down. Matt decided to end his battle phase and then shifted his Reaper into defense position. Asura Priest returned to his hand and the turn was done.

Victor used his next turn to play Snatch Steal on Spirit Reaper. The Reaper was destroyed and Victor’s turn was done.

Matt began his next turn by again summoning the Asura Priest. He declared an attack with Mobius, but it was destroyed in response by Victor’s Sakuretsu Armor. Asura Priest then attacked directly for 1700. Victor’s life points were reduced to 2600, while Matt was still at 4100. Asura Priest was returned to Matt’s hand, leaving no monsters on his side of the field.

Victor checked the graveyard removing Cyber Dragon and Tsukuyomi for the Sorcerer, but Matt used Bottomless Trap Hole to remove it from play. Victor used his next move to flip his face down Heavy Storm. Matt responded with his set Scapegoat, to which Victor then responded with his face down Return from the Different Dimension. Victor used its effect to place Chaos Sorcerer, three Dekoichis, and one Cyber Dragon onto the field in attack position. Matt’s Sheep tokens were then special summoned, and Heavy Storm finished its job, taking out Matt’s set Mirror Force. The Sorcerer waited while the sheep were cleared, and after the sheep had been herded off the field it attacked directly. Victor’s field was cleared of monsters and his turn ended.

Matt opened the final turn of the duel with Asura Priest and attacked directly for win. Victor commented that if had been, “anything but Scapegoat” would have been different. They thanked each other for the game, and Matt moved on to the semifinals.

Matt advances, winning the match 2–0.